This is apocalyptic

Chapter 23: The qualities of a scavenger in the end times
A fully armed zombie riding a tricycle and bringing a human with him approached Linchuan City.

Fighting with old zombies along the way made Bai Xiao feel complicated.

Time has not buried them, but it has made them no longer very dangerous.

"It's a bit quiet." Bai Xiao drove slowly and cautiously into the city. According to what he thought, there should be more zombies in the city, far more than in remote villages.

"It's still on the edge. It's much better now. It was more lively before." Lin Duoduo took out a gun. "The scavengers who come to the city will clean up the zombies, and sometimes they will become zombies. But generally speaking, zombies are getting easier to kill, so the edge of the city is always cleaned up again and again, and it is relatively safe."

In the past, clearing out zombies was a necessary process, because there were too many zombies in the city at that time, and you could encounter them almost anywhere you walked. If you wanted to scavenge, you had to clear a safe path, clearing all the way as you walked, which wasted a lot of time.

"Is the glass of your helmet covered?" Lin Duoduo jumped out of the car and walked around to the front to take a look before she felt relieved. She explained, "Hide yourself well. Hide your infection signs at all times. Otherwise, if you meet other scavengers, you might be eliminated before you have a chance to explain."

Bai Xiao adjusted his helmet, worried: "Am I wearing it properly?"

"Ah, very good."

Lin Duoduo did not sit on the truck bed anymore. She got off when she got close to the edge of the city, followed the tricycle with her legs, and observed whether the surroundings were safe.

Except for the day he was bitten, Bai Xiao had never seen such a quiet street. In the past, even if he worked overtime until the early morning, the streets were still flashing neon lights, cars coming and going, and the food stalls were bustling with people.

The empty city streets inexplicably make people feel a little chilly.

"Where to go first?" Bai Xiao asked.

Lin Duoduo took out a piece of paper from her back pocket. Bai Xiao leaned over to take a look and saw that it was an address.

"Let's go check on Aunt Qian first. I have the key. If the place where she lived before is not easy to break into, maybe we don't have to go anywhere else."

"How many things could there be in her house?" Bai Xiaoqi asked.

"It's not her house." Lin Duoduo shook the key. "In the old days, in buildings like that, many houses could be reached from the balcony. With this key, the entire floor may be ours, and the floors below may also be ours."

Bai Xiao was stunned, and once again recognized the wisdom of this human, or her extensive experience in picking up scraps.

“The lower floors are easy to sweep, but the upper floors are not so easy.”

Most teams won’t touch it because the city is too big.

Scavenging is also a skill.

"Do you recognize that address?" Bai Xiao was a little skeptical.

"Well...it's near the city center, next to the Civic Square." Lin Duoduo said.

Sure enough, Bai Xiao knew that his worries were not unfounded.

People who grew up after the end of the world and live in remote mountain villages cannot be very familiar with cities.

"Now we have to find a place to rest."

Lin Duoduo looked at the sun which had already set on the horizon and it would soon be dark.

"Do you have a temporary place to stay in the city?" Bai Xiao asked.

"This way."

Lin Duoduo led Bai Xiao forward. The further they went, the more tall buildings there were. The squeaking sound of tricycles echoed in the quiet street.

The zombies here are not as cute as those in the countryside. Unlike on the road where there is no shelter and zombies can be seen early.

They may appear in groups of three or five, or they may hide behind a store door and suddenly pop out to scare people.

The traffic light at the intersection had long been scrapped and hung diagonally above. The original blue sign had faded and the words "Turn left at Xijiang Road" were blurred, leaving only an arrow.

Bai Xiao discovered that Lin Duoduo, who went out, was different from when she was in the yard. She was wearing a baseball cap, and her eyes were sharp and calm, observing her surroundings.

"Why not equip the stick with a blade? A spike." Bai Xiao said.

"If there are more zombies, it will be dangerous if you get stuck in the bones." Lin Duoduo didn't look back, "and the body fluids will splash everywhere. The stick is more useful when the zombies are not so dangerous. You can easily break their necks."

The sky was getting darker and darker. When Bai Xiao broke the necks of two of his subjects, making it impossible for it to chase, Lin Duoduo finally stopped.

This used to be a furniture store. The billboard above it had long been damaged by wind and rain, with only half of it hanging. The place where the glass door wall should have been was empty, without even a door.

"I don't think this is a good place." Bai Xiao made the suggestion cautiously, because he saw shadowy figures in the shadows in the distance. Several zombies were attracted by the movement of the tricycle and were staggering towards this side.

The zombies are indeed old, but it would be a hassle if they were surrounded.

On the quiet street, the sound of the tricycle is really eye-catching.

"The car is parked here." Lin Duoduo was very calm. While she could still see things clearly, she picked up a short stick from the ground, held the gun in her other hand, walked in and knocked on the escalator that had long been scrapped, then listened attentively and went upstairs carefully and slowly.

There were no zombies in the seven-story shopping mall. Lin Duoduo had been here before and cleaned it up. Except in very rare cases, the probability of old zombies wandering upstairs was not high. But she still remained cautious until she came to the place leading to the roof on the seventh floor. She observed the door tied with wire and felt relieved. She opened the wire and came to the roof.

"Well, this is a really good place." Bai Xiao's mind changed quickly. He walked to the edge of the rooftop and looked at the street below. The view here was wide, and there were no tall buildings particularly close around. As long as the iron gate was not broken, it would be safe.

Those old zombies have to climb to the seventh floor... Maybe some fresher zombies can do it, but if it’s the kind we encounter along the way, forget it.

There were still many things on the rooftop, a pile of bottles and jars, weapons such as iron rods and steel bars. Lin Duoduo picked up a crowbar and stuck it on the iron door, then kicked a cabinet next to it and raised her chin to signal Bai Xiao.

Bai Xiao understood, and helped her move the cabinet to block the iron door.

“This way, even if there are new zombies, we can still be safe at night.” Lin Duoduo also came to the edge. The rooftop was very large. She walked around the edge and looked at the dark street below: “If there are other scavengers nearby, they will be easy to spot.”

Bai Xiao felt that she was like a sniper now, ready to take out the sniper rifle at any time, put it on her shoulder and aim at the street.

He suddenly remembered a sentence, 'Put up two machine guns here, I can control the whole street.'

It seems that this is not a random place. Bai Xiao suspects that this is not the only one. When she needed to rest while scavenging, she would look for places like this.

Is this the quality of a professional scavenger?
Bai Xiao was filled with awe, worthy of being a human who grew up in the apocalypse.

There was a pile of useless junk in a corner of the rooftop, such as empty beer bottles and cans, tires, and even bicycles.

"Are you really picking up rubbish?" Bai Xiao originally thought that scavenging only meant looking for useful supplies.

He really didn't know what some of the broken things were used for, such as the empty glass bottle that Lin Duoduo was carrying now.

Lin Duoduo placed the bottles in a circle around him and said, "As long as you are still rational, it is best not to leave this circle."

Bai Xiao now knew what it was for. "If the bottle is knocked over, it means that my infection has worsened and I have lost my mind."

A very simple but very effective protective warning.

(End of this chapter)